Eltife keeps the Senate moving in Dewhurst’s absence

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst may be the Senate’s presiding officer, but Sen. Kevin Eltife appears to be the guy driving the legislative train.

People who watch the live Senate session feed on television and the Internet see Dewhurst presiding mostly over pomp and circumstance, as well as introduction of the doctor of the day.

But when it comes time to pushing a dozen bills an hour through the chamber, Eltife is the senator most often on the screen wielding the gavel because Dewhurst has left the floor.

Dewhurst has been seen calling Eltife, R-Tyler, to the dais, signaling with his hands and holding up an imaginary steering wheel. Take over, in other words.

“Kevin Eltife just moves this traffic. He’s like an air traffic controller. He just moves this stuff out,” said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

Dewhurst — who has aspirations to higher office, such as governor or U.S. Senate — is a man whose feathers ruffle easily. Ruffled by questions Wednesday about being off the floor while the Senate is in session, Dewhurst said he is busy meeting with senators and working on legislation.

“On a daily basis, when two or three senators come to me with issues, its hard for me to stand there in the rhythm of the words in order to pass bills and carry on two or three simultaneous conversations,” Dewhurst said. “So I pass the gavel so I can walk off the floor and give the senators the attention they deserve.”

Dewhurst on Wednesday said he planned to leave the floor to work on his remarks for an upcoming speech to the Federal Reserve Bank, but after the interview he held onto the gavel for the entire three-hour-four-minute Senate session. He was a constant presence since. Rather than leave on Thursday, for example, he took meetings on the dais as Eltife presided over the chamber.

Dewhurst’s daily calendars do show he has meetings scheduled during the time he is off the floor. The calendars also show that he usually arrives at work and is out the door by 6 p.m. Most evening schedules are working dinners.

Texas Senate

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, who presided over the 2001 legislative session, said he spent 80 percent of his time on the dais when the Senate was in session, working with senators both on the floor and in his office at other times.

“Being on the floor was the top priority, in my opinion,” Ratliff said. “That’s the job description. You’re the presiding officer of the body.”

Speaker Joe Straus often is not the lawmaker with the gavel on the House dais, but he also is frequently seen up against the chamber’s south wall talking to other lawmakers. The House also keeps far longer hours than the Senate, meeting 137 hours between April 20 and May 12, compared to 74 hours for the Senate.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, chair of the Democratic caucus, said Dewhurst is in the chamber for major or controversial bills.

“When were having to crunch out a lot of bills that are non-controversial its just so much easier to have Senator Eltife do it,” Van de Putte said.

That may be the perception of some, but Dewhurst often is missing for hours at a time, including in recent days when significant bills were considered.

On April 29, for example, Dewhurst missed former Superme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor address the senate, and a later debate on the session’s major education policy bill. He came back to the senate about seven minutes before the six-hour session ended.

Eltife, who is in his third legislative session, said he feels honored that Dewhurst trusts him with the gavel so often.

“I was a mayor for six years. I was on the city council for six years. So I just try to run it like I ran my city council meetings and keep it flowing,” Eltife said.

During previous legislative sessions, senators became upset that Dewhurst often was tardy, causing the Senate to start late. They began a practice of having the president pro tem gavel them into session if Dewhurst wasn’t present.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said Dewhurst has been much more prompt this year. And on Thursday, Dewhurst was on time, but more than half the Senate members were tardy so there’s wasn’t a quorum to begin the session at 11 a.m. sharp.